Abeka Home School -- pros and cons?

[RosieCotton]

I am interested in hearing your thoughts, especially any who have used it.

 

I've heard it's pretty school-ish, which is probably why many here wouldn't like it.  (Not classical.)

 

I'm curious as to thoughts of those who have used it and how it worked for them.

 

Strengths? Weaknesses?

 

 

 

 

[Slache]

Our church school uses it and the students spelling and grammar are both atrocious.

[Southern Ivy]

Our church school uses it and the students spelling and grammar are both atrocious.

I find that odd because I used A Beka all the way through and my spelling and grammar were great.

 

 

As for A Beka in general, it's very lacking in higher order thinking skills. There's a lot of memorization and regurgitation. They also have a TON of busy work.

It's incredibly hard to homeschool with it because it was designed for the classroom, but it can be done. It is at the bottom of my list, though.

[Jean in Newcastle]

It is a traditional school done at home.  My opinion is that if I had wanted my kids to do traditional school, that I would have sent my kids to one.  My friends who use it like it well enough paired with co-ops.  I didn't do either.  (And it has absolutely nothing to do with it not being "classical".)

[Ellie]

I am interested in hearing your thoughts, especially any who have used it.

 

I've heard it's pretty school-ish, which is probably why many here wouldn't like it.  (Not classical.)

 

I'm curious as to thoughts of those who have used it and how it worked for them.

 

Strengths? Weaknesses?

 

Of course it's school-ish. ABeka originally published books for its school, Pensacola Christian Academy (or probably it's the other way around, that PCA started ABeka Books as its publishing arm), but there was a market for good-quality textbooks published with a Christian POV, and so now ABeka Books has a corner on the market (although I think BJUP might be giving ABeka a run for its money). ABeka has published homeschool guides, but it's still going to be every-day-just-like-school.

 

FTR, I withdrew my daughter from a school that used all ABeka; she learned to read well, but she was burned out. I took her out during Easter break of first grade. To be fair, she was the only one who left at that time, so it might have been just her. :-) OTOH, several families let their children continue for the rest of the school year and didn't send them back the next because they were homeschooling.

 

Over the years (and this is since 1982), most the people I've talked with who burned out after a year (or less) were those who had used all ABeka, either a whole box of books or through ABeka Academy. I have known a few who did all ABeka (and some of them through ABeka Academy) who stayed with it and love it, but they are the exception, IME.

 

We used ABeka biology and liked it ok (it probably would have been better with a group, or with the video). The senior English (which included grammar/comp and lit) might have been ok if we'd used the video but we couldn't budget it in. The grammar/comp is relentless grammar, every single year.

[Southern Ivy]

Of course it's school-ish. ABeka originally published books for its school, Pensacola Christian Academy (or probably it's the other way around, that PCA started ABeka Books as its publishing arm), but there was a market for good-quality textbooks published with a Christian POV, and so now ABeka Books has a corner on the market (although I think BJUP might be giving ABeka a run for its money). ABeka has published homeschool guides, but it's still going to be every-day-just-like-school.

 

Off topic, but...

BJUP is definitely giving them a run for their money. I know my own school used A Beka since the early 80s, but my mom (the elementary admin) recently switched them to BJUP due to lack of updates in ABeka's history and science (and according to them, no plans to update in the foreseeable future) and due to the lack of higher order thinking skills. 

[Loowit]

I used Abeka for all of my kids at some point.  I liked some of it, but not all of it.  I like their phonics and English in the younger grades.  I felt it worked very well, especially for my DD.  My children all used Abeka math until last year and are all very good at math, we only changed because I needed something they could do more independently.  I did not like their history or science.

 

Abeka is very school at home if you do the full program, but I found that doing just bit and pieces of it and tweaking it worked well for us.  It has a lot of review, so I would go through worksheets and mark of which problems they needed to do so that I could focus on areas that they were weak in and skip stuff they didn't need.  But after a while I decided to go with a program that I didn't need to tweak as much.  I think academically it is fine for math and language arts, but beyond that I wasn't impressed.

[Ellie]

Off topic, but...

BJUP is definitely giving them a run for their money. I know my own school used A Beka since the early 80s, but my mom (the elementary admin) recently switched them to BJUP due to lack of updates in ABeka's history and science (and according to them, no plans to update in the foreseeable future) and due to the lack of higher order thinking skills. 

 

Good for your mother. :-)

 

When we started hsing in 1982, BJUP was not complete in all subjects, especially below high school level. They've really done a great job of publishing all levels, all subjects, now. They were always much nicer to work with than ABeka, too. I think ABeka's reading instruction is superior, but for most other subjects, I prefer BJUP.

[almondbutterandjelly]

I pick and choose from Abeka.  I loved their Phonics and used it from 1st through 3rd grade.  We didn't use their grammar until this year (10th grade).  I have used their health books a lot through the years, although mostly just reading them.  I have used their Spelling and Vocabulary books quite a lot through the years also, as my daughter is a natural speller but needs vocabulary help.

 

I love their Songs We Enjoy CDs for grades 1 through 6.  Wonderful!

 

I think the trick with Abeka is being comfortable to do your own thing with it.  I use what I like and don't necessarily stick to their schedule or lesson plans.

 

We are currently using Abeka Government.  I have Abeka English Lit (volume A) for next semester, Abeka Economics for next year, and I plan to use Abeka United States History within a year or two also.  Oh, and my husband will be teaching my dd Abeka Chemistry next year.

[...................]

I can't imagine any Abeka student having atrocious spelling and grammar, because Abeka drills and drills and drills both of those --unless the students can't keep up (which would be the case if my dd had been in an Abeka school.  She struggles with spelling and memorization so the Abeka method would have left her literally a failing student.  In fact the school does not even accept kids with certain LD's)

 

Anyway back to the topic at hand, the fact is that it depends why you homeschool.  Most people on this board desire a unique education which fits their home and child.  I would say at least 60% here are not even Classical, but more eclectic, especially as the kids get older.

 

So, you have to ask yourself why you homeschool?  I am a fan of Abeka, in general, though it would not work at all to use the ENTIRE program for either of my kids.  My son would be bored to tears by the reading, literature, Science and history.  But he has used the grammar very successfully for a few years.

 

The problem with using Abeka Academy and the DVD's is that you will spend a LOT OF TIME watching the DVD's, and then a LOT OF TIME doing fairly monotonous boring workbooks, and textbook answers, in addition to reading the texts.  It can take more than 6 hours per day and that's for elementary school.  

 

What I would consider, if I were you is to use Abeka for the Skill subjects (math, grammar, phonics, reading, handwriting and if your student can keep up with it, the spelling)  and then I would do something easy and fun for History, Science and eventually reading once the student can read on his or her own.  You can use the TM's that corrolate and this will give your student an amazing foundation and a lot of confidence.  If you yourself use the TM's after about 6 weeks of school, you will figure out what your student really needs and what you can cut out.  If you buy used TM's then you will often see highliting from the previous homeshcool mom.  One year, I used another mom's highliting to teach the phonics course and I agreed with her completely on what to do and what to skip.  This is much better than using the DVD"s and signing up for the correspondence school, where you have no choice. 

[lllll]

nm

Edited November 5, 2016 by cathey

[RootAnn]

I know a family who uses Abeka video for their kids for high school (and one middle schooler). The mom was looking for something laid out that the kids could do mostly independently. There is definitely a burn-out factor (for both mom & kids) and it takes them a LOONG time to get everything done. She feels it is a good education for them, but there is a lot of grading for her in the evenings and a lot of homework for the kids on top of the videos.

 

We use just the math. Eldest used the math through Algebra 1, but my next one will switch out after Pre-A. (They have a new edition of Alg 1, so I'd have to buy a new TM. Plus, the videos have been redone & it is no longer with the beloved Mrs. Howe. That & eldest realized how much of Alg 1 material she didn't cover in alg 1 w/Abeka once she got to alg 2 this year.)

[MyLife]

My DS 7 has completed Abeka K5 phonics (named Letters and Sounds). He is currently working through Abeka Letters and Sounds 1 and Spelling and Poetry 1.  Abeka's phonics and spelling program is very thorough, and I plan on purchasing it again for 2nd grade. I honestly do not have any complaints about Abeka's phonics and spelling. 

 

My DS 7 also completed Abeka K5 math (named Numbers). We enjoyed it until about three-fourths of the way through the school year. I discovered that I did not enjoy teaching a spiral math program. I did not know what other math programs were available, so I purchased Abeka Arithmetic 1. It was overkill. I hated the spiral approach and there were way too many worksheets. So, I began adding in Miquon Orange and Red and only made my son do an Abeka worksheet every other day. It helped, but I knew we couldn't do another year of Abeka Arithmetic.

 

The biggest con to Abeka's Arithmetic is the spiral approach (this is strictly a preference, though) and that it doesn't teach the "why" behind the math concepts (At least in K5 and 1 it doesn't. I'm not sure about other grades.)

 

That being said, you can see in my signature that I am using Abeka K5 loosely with my DS 5. I go through the TM and teach the things that I do like. 

 

Phonics and Spelling = yes

Math = no

[RosieCotton]

Thanks for the thoughts and experiences.

 

The gal who works at my bank enrolled her 2 in it this fall grades 4 and 6 I think, and she said how challenged the kids are every week, as compared to public school.

She said the workload was more than they were used to.

 

So I was curious what people here would say about them.

 

We are pretty happy here with the curriculum we are using, but there are some days I wish I could have someone else teach everything but LA and Math. :laugh:

 

Wish that existed somewhere in my perfect happy place.

[Peaceful Isle]

If you want to go the online distance learning route, go BJU instead. 

[RootAnn]

The biggest con to Abeka's Arithmetic is the spiral approach (this is strictly a preference, though) and that it doesn't teach the "why" behind the math concepts (At least in K5 and 1 it doesn't. I'm not sure about other grades.)

 

Spiral is the only way my kids learn & retain everything. If we don't repeat-repeat-repeat, it falls out of their brains. And yes, in general, you have to add the "why" to the math. (There is some explanation in the homeschool curriculum guide, but many people don't follow it.)

[Ausmumof3]

I used Abeka myself for one of the years I was homeschooled. I actually loved the school work especially the English program which I basically ran through and finished in about six months because I enjoyed it.

 

Later in high school I had a teacher say he could tell I had been homeschooled because I understood grammar and spelling unlike the public students. Abeka was pretty much the only grammar we did. That said, my grammar really isn't that great but it doesn't have to be much to be better than the standard achieved by a lot of Australian public schools. There seems to be far less emphasis on grammar here than in the US.

 

All that said, I am not sure how well my own kids would do with Abeka. They are far less interested in sit down school work than I was. Though my oldest may like it - not because he'd particularly like the work but because he does like knowing exactly what he has to do and when.

[PeterPan]

Thanks for the thoughts and experiences.

 

The gal who works at my bank enrolled her 2 in it this fall grades 4 and 6 I think, and she said how challenged the kids are every week, as compared to public school.

She said the workload was more than they were used to.

 

So I was curious what people here would say about them.

 

We are pretty happy here with the curriculum we are using, but there are some days I wish I could have someone else teach everything but LA and Math. :laugh:

 

Wish that existed somewhere in my perfect happy place.

 

I had a friend like this, where talking curriculum with her always left me de-stabilized because I SO would have liked to have that experience she portrayed herself as having.  (everything is great, turn on the videos, the kids love it, the kids do well)

 

As the others said, there are multiple options if you actually want some help with that.  Don't know the ages of your kids, but VP's self-paced online history sequence is terrific.  You have lots of good options for science.  BJU's science courses (and actually their Heritage Studies also) are good.  

 

Someone else mentioned burnout, and that's actually my biggest beef with Abeka.  It just makes me sad when I talk to novice homeschoolers who start with it and get burnt out.  But if you're using it selectively and picking components that work for you and seem to be working for your dc, you're fine.  I've used some of the grammar with my dd, and it's really stellar.  The videos do tend to be dry.  

 

As far as Abeka vs. BJU, there are some pretty radical philosophical differences there as far as how they approach education.  Abeka took old ps texts that were beyond copyright and republished them with modifications.  They bumped grade levels to promote the idea that christians were (insert words), which is why sometimes the materials seem hard.  Abeka can be used largely independently.  BJU is the polar opposite, with a slow start and focus on foundations and conceptual understanding, completely written from scratch with christian worldview integrated into all subjects and skills and content of subjects within the grade interweaving to create a synergistic effect.  BJU considers the teacher non-optional and WANTS the teacher to bring something to the process.  For this reason the tm is ESSENTIAL to the course and has material not contained in the student text.  When people just hand the textbook for BJU and complain, they're missing half the course.  Even people who do the math and say there wasn't enough review, etc., often weren't using all the resources from the tm.

 

And BJU has test scores to show that their students do better than other common options.  BJU Press High Test Scores | High Test Scores

 

I'm not a lover of the BJU writing/grammar, fwiw.  I've done some of the online classes with my dd and ds and do like them.  They're just a challenge because of the ADHD, etc. etc.  Anything video like that is.

 

To get back to your original point though.  I think the key, in situations like this, is to know why you're doing what you're doing and maybe just not talk curriculum with that other person.  If talking with them about curriculum de-stabilizes you and makes you lose your peace about what you're doing, when what you're doing is well thought through and WORKING, then don't talk curriculum with them.  Because we ALL wish it were easier.  We ALL wish we could just plunk $1K down on the table and have everything magically work better the way the advertisements and convention reps make it SOUND like things would.  But it DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY.  

 

Reality is, you have your specific kids and have to find the specific mix that makes them blossom.  And just because that mix seems to work for someone else doesn't mean it would work for your kids.  And, frankly, Abeka is SO niched, so single faceted, so EXTREME (in a philosophy, in approach, in acceleration, in lack of multiple modalities, etc.) that it's LESS likely than almost ANY other option I can think of to fit anyone but the most standard, typical child.  If your dc has ANY differences, it could be a huge waste.

 

But, you know, if it bugs you, buy a little something and try it.  It's fun to try new things.  Just start small.  :)

[Valley Girl]

We used Abeka starting out because it was the curriculum used at the school my kids attended. It seemed like a good idea to start with something familiar since I had no clue what I was doing. The prepackaged lesson plans made the transition to homeschool easier. However, we didn't stay with it long. I thought the grammar was pretty solid, but I was put off from the science curriculum by what I felt was the unnecessarily nasty tone it took toward viewpoints other than young earth creationism. The social studies program seemed to spend as much time or more on missionary bios as it did on historical figures. It also had a definite anti-Catholic attitude that turned me off. The kids--voracious readers--didn't like the selections in the reading program. Many of the books were cookie cutterish. Now if you're looking for something with has a strong, very specific Christian viewpoint and everything laid out, it might legitimately work for your family. It just didn't for mine.

[Ellie]

Thanks for the thoughts and experiences.

 

The gal who works at my bank enrolled her 2 in it this fall grades 4 and 6 I think, and she said how challenged the kids are every week, as compared to public school.

She said the workload was more than they were used to.

 

So I was curious what people here would say about them.

 

We are pretty happy here with the curriculum we are using, but there are some days I wish I could have someone else teach everything but LA and Math. :laugh:

 

Wish that existed somewhere in my perfect happy place.

 

Many Christians do ABeka when they first start out, because they know people who use it. Some people use all ABeka because they withdrew their children from schools that used all ABeka so it must be good. Or they know people who teach in schools that use all ABeka who think it's wonderful, even though they've never used anything except ABeka so they have nothing to compare it with, and besides they've only taught in a classroom and don't understand that home is different from classroom. 

 

As I said before, I know people who have always used ABeka and love it. A good friend has four children who have always homeschooled with ABeka Academy; her oldest is graduating this year and they'll go to Pensacola for the graduation ceremony. :-) I'm just saying that many people start out with ABeka haven't done research to know what else is available.

[RosieCotton]

Thanks Ellie, that makes a lot of sense. She said she used it when in school.

 

I don't think I could give up my Rod and Staff english and spelling it's so easy (love the teachers guides. . .) and we are super comfortable with math now and I wouldn't change that for anything now that we have got a system down.

 

I am tempted to buy RodStaff phonics to see if its just as well laid out as English is. But would need the middle of it my 6 year old reads really well (3rd grade level )and I wouldn't know where to start her.

 

I'll have 2 days off to plan next week which is nice I am going to pull a few things together from AO and chart out the next 6 weeks.

 

Was just curious what people would say here.

[Ellie]

Thanks Ellie, that makes a lot of sense. She said she used it when in school.

 

I don't think I could give up my Rod and Staff english and spelling it's so easy (love the teachers guides. . .) and we are super comfortable with math now and I wouldn't change that for anything now that we have got a system down.

 

I am tempted to buy RodStaff phonics to see if its just as well laid out as English is. But would need the middle of it my 6 year old reads really well (3rd grade level )and I wouldn't know where to start her.

 

I'll have 2 days off to plan next week which is nice I am going to pull a few things together from AO and chart out the next 6 weeks.

 

Was just curious what people would say here.

 

There you go. :-)

 

If your little 6yo person is reading at a 3rd grade level, then neither ABeka nor R&S has anything to offer. :-) Just stick with having lots of reading material available--good trade books, not vocabulary-controlled basal readers.

 

IMHO, R&S's English and spelling are superior to ABeka's (or at least as good, but I prefer R&S--much more writing, much more comprehensive spelling).

[Sahamamama2]

Of course it's school-ish. ABeka originally published books for its school, Pensacola Christian Academy (or probably it's the other way around, that PCA started ABeka Books as its publishing arm), but there was a market for good-quality textbooks published with a Christian POV, and so now ABeka Books has a corner on the market (although I think BJUP might be giving ABeka a run for its money). ABeka has published homeschool guides, but it's still going to be every-day-just-like-school.

 

FTR, I withdrew my daughter from a school that used all ABeka; she learned to read well, but she was burned out. I took her out during Easter break of first grade. To be fair, she was the only one who left at that time, so it might have been just her. :-) OTOH, several families let their children continue for the rest of the school year and didn't send them back the next because they were homeschooling.

 

Over the years (and this is since 1982), most the people I've talked with who burned out after a year (or less) were those who had used all ABeka, either a whole box of books or through ABeka Academy. I have known a few who did all ABeka (and some of them through ABeka Academy) who stayed with it and love it, but they are the exception, IME.

 

We used ABeka biology and liked it ok (it probably would have been better with a group, or with the video). The senior English (which included grammar/comp and lit) might have been ok if we'd used the video but we couldn't budget it in. The grammar/comp is relentless grammar, every single year.

 

:iagree: We never used ABeka here, but people I've talked to who have burned out have burned out (in a year or two) using ABeka. I've also heard of this happening at Christian schools, too, not only with homeschoolers.

 

When my oldest was beginning Kindergarten (at home), someone gave me the 1st grade materials from ABeka, the whole set. We never used it. The course seemed like a ton of busywork, so many parts and pieces (though it may be different now?), and too cumbersome to really use well at home with other little ones to care for. That was our only experience with ABeka, and I'm glad we had it, because after that, whenever someone we knew burned out on ABeka, I could somewhat understand why. HTH.

 

Edited to add: Actually, we did, now that I think of it. :blushing:  We used Health, Safety & Manners one year for Health. I think we used the 3rd grade book, when the girls were in 2nd, 2nd, and 4th (just to be in the middle, so to speak). It was full of "shoulds, musts, and oughts," which I think is fairly typical ABeka. Also, my (polite) New Jersey girls thought that some of the sections on manners were... interesting. I could relate, having lived in Missouri for several years, but they had never heard of children addressing adults with "sir" or "ma'am." I thought it was good exposure to other norms, but if children did that around here, they would stand out as odd (or from somewhere else). Other manners that stood out to them included boys opening doors and pulling out chairs for girls ("Why can't we open our own door?" "It's cultural, Sweetie." "Oh."), taking your hat off in church (we do this here, too, but my girls are not boys, obviously, so they hadn't heard of this before), and a few other things that might be relevant to raising children in peninsular Florida, but maybe not the Northeast?

 

I did think that the health and safety/basic first aid information was well-done and I'm glad we did this course. In fact, after we finished the course that year, I had them independently re-read each chapter over the following school year. The girls still remember quite a bit from that book! We did much of it orally, as a group. So, all that to say, I think there might be resources within ABeka that are worthwhile.

 

Oh! And we use the Bird cards, Flower cards, Grammar charts, Tree charts, and other Science charts all the time! LOVE the Bird cards! LOVE the Flower cards! Duh! How could I forget those? :svengo: Use the resources from ABeka that work for you, and leave behind whatever doesn't. HTH.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Sahamamama2

[Sahamamama2]

I am tempted to buy RodStaff phonics to see if its just as well laid out as English is. But would need the middle of it my 6 year old reads really well (3rd grade level )and I wouldn't know where to start her.

 

If your little 6yo person is reading at a 3rd grade level, then neither ABeka nor R&S has anything to offer. :-) Just stick with having lots of reading material available--good trade books, not vocabulary-controlled basal readers.

 

:iagree: If she's reading at that level, then it's fine to "just read" for a while. Read plenty of picture books (don't drop these too early) and chapter books. I wouldn't worry about basal readers or a phonics program, but I might move on to spelling (All About Spelling).

 

Read aloud to her and have her read aloud to you. My girls are in 4th, 4th, and 6th, and I still want to hear them reading aloud from various resources -- science books, history books, chapter books, poetry, Shakespeare, the Bible, the dictionary, an atlas, a map, a cookbook (can they read the measurements?), my aunt's old-fashioned cursive writing, and so on. ;) We've gotten a few laughs from their pronunciations of things! ;)   

 

We like this set of books (instead of McGuffey). I like the idea of McGuffey, but some of the content is too heavy on Dead Mothers and Birds with Broken Wings. :sad: Glooooooomy. So we like these books instead. HTH.

 

https://www.christianbook.com/classics-for-young-readers-kit/pd/728543?event=CPOF

[Gia2022]

We have used Abeka Accademy and are pleased. My daughter came from a private school and was used to a rigorous curriculum. We love the flexibility and she can get ahead or work at a slower pace. The program is accredited and she  enjoys freedom of homeschool.  She takes her quizzes and test online. They do all of the grading and they mail us the progress report (grade card). Abeka Accademy offers standardize testing. We can see that she is continuously improving in all subjects. We have been happy with the program and have enjoyed  seeing her enthusiasm. We participate in our local community  homeschool club for social events , field trips and tutoring. This program has worked for our family and we look forward to seeing her graduate. She has the option of attending the graduation ceremony in Pensacola along with her fellow homeschoolers and the students from Pensacola Christian School. 

[Ellie]

zombie post